Aliens almost certainly exist but humans should avoid making contact, Professor Stephen Hawking has warned.
In a series for the Discovery Channel the renowned astrophysicist said it was "perfectly rational" to assume intelligent life exists elsewhere.
But he warned that aliens might simply raid Earth for resources, then move on.
"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," he said.

Anthony of Brisbane Posted at 11:09 AM Today
This is completely not true. Kepler Spacecraft to date has only found and confirmed 5 alien planets. There are heaps of articles in major newspapers/magazines saying this same garbage but none of it is true. The quote that started all the lies was in reference to 'candidates' meaning they may or may not be relevant to Keplers search for extrasolar planets and while they appear to have the right 'signature' follow up data is needed.

So chances are if we are first out the gate we are going to rape the galaxy?

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Many of the wise documentaries predicting the future seem to indicate that behaviour. And if you look into the past of human exploration and exploitation you can find a common theme which will likely continue in space, unless humans evolve their minds beyond Big Brother 69 and UN Idol.

But I assume, we will be not the first out there, the galaxy is big and we won't see behind the galactic core any time to find, if there could be others hiding behind it.

Many of the wise documentaries predicting the future seem to indicate that behaviour. And if you look into the past of human exploration and exploitation you can find a common theme which will likely continue in space, unless humans evolve their minds beyond Big Brother 69 and UN Idol.

But I assume, we will be not the first out there, the galaxy is big and we won't see behind the galactic core any time to find, if there could be others hiding behind it.

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The dooms dayers are always the loudest of the lot though man feeding paranoia with paranoia. What that quote from Hawkings reads like to me is the script for Independence Day LOL

So chances are if we are first out the gate we are going to rape the galaxy?

As much as I admire Hawking he should stick to physics and avoid armchair psychology.

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Are you serious?

Everything in human history and current behavior suggests this to be the most likely outcome. If today we had the power to go exploring our galaxy and we were somehow the most advanced critters out there. I am certain that within a few years we would be twisting the arms of little green men for whatever resources they had.

Some earthing would protest about the fundamental wrongness of this behavior. Some would proclaim that might makes right and really the aliens are asking for it. And most people would be apathetic and enjoy the increased availability of cheap mac books and iPods.

Everything in human history and current behavior suggests this to be the most likely outcome. If today we had the power to go exploring our galaxy and we were somehow the most advanced critters out there. I am certain that within a few years we would be twisting the arms of little green men for whatever resources they had.

Some earthing would protest about the fundamental wrongness of this behavior. Some would proclaim that might makes right and really the aliens are asking for it. And most people would be apathetic and enjoy the increased availability of cheap mac books and iPods.

Why would they look for something that from any outsiders perspective would resemble nothing more than an incredibly effective virus?

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Way to be a pessimist. If you look at the world with any honesty we're just an extremely intelligent life form that sometimes doesn't quite understand balance. I'm sure an alien life form would be extremely interested in our developments.

As far as psychology, we have experience with exactly one technological species, as limited a sample size as possible. We cannot begin to imagine what sorts of alternate circumstances might lead to the evolution of a technological intelligence, or what sorts of behaviors we might observe in other species that have achieved it. A metacognitive, social species like our own might constitute a whole separate term to the Drake equation. Even to describe alien behavior using human-centric terms like motive, interest or intent might prove futile, much less to consider something like mutual communication.

Considering "defense" at this point is ridiculous. As long as the speed limit of the universe remains intact, even getting to nearby stars is as implausibly difficult for them as it is for us. Whatever the cause, they would need to redirect unimaginable resources towards reaching us at all. Among humans the United States enjoys a defensive advantage simply by having a large body of water on both sides, to say nothing of the vast, hostile expanse between stars. Even if for some unfathomable reason some species dedicated itself to that task, and we were the target, any species that can accelerate an object to relativistic velocities can annihilate us with so little marginal effort over what it would take to get here that we would have no hope of defending against it.

Hawking's point is thus well-taken in a sense: it is unlikely anyone can get here or would want to, but on the off chance, as long as we would have to wait for them to come to us, anybody who could do that would be so far out of our league that we wouldn't stand a chance, so for the time being we are best off keeping our heads down and not calling attention to ourselves.

Anthony of Brisbane Posted at 11:09 AM Today
This is completely not true. Kepler Spacecraft to date has only found and confirmed 5 alien planets. There are heaps of articles in major newspapers/magazines saying this same garbage but none of it is true. The quote that started all the lies was in reference to 'candidates' meaning they may or may not be relevant to Keplers search for extrasolar planets and while they appear to have the right 'signature' follow up data is needed.

It has found 706 'candidate' stars that have indicated they may have planets (shifts in their brightness as the assumed planet passes in front of them), which require follow ups to confirm actual planets or not. This follow-up data will be released in six months from now.

A little off-topic and not directly related to the OP, but just a heads up that news.com.au is an entirely trashy Australian tabloid website that shouldn't be taken seriously at all. It's universally horrible.

You my friend obviously don't watch much sci-fi. Even when we're technologically inferior in these scenarios humans are painted as occupying the moral high ground in dealings with nearly all alien races. Very few galaxy spanning stories paint us as the petty vindictive greedy jealous territorial apes we really are.

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